CLASSIFIEDS AFFORDABLE HIMALAYA & MOUNT ELBRUS 5% discount for acc members
Climbing and walking trips for men and women, with Dan Mazur. All ages and abilities, expert to novice. Everest summit climbs, training climbs, and treks, Mount Elbrus, Ama Dablam, Cho Oyu, Baruntse, North Col, Lhotse, Everest Glacier School, Island Peak, Muztagh Ata, Mera Peak, Shishapangma, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya. Charity Service Walks near Everest, Seattle Glacier School during summer and Canada-USA Friendship winter climbing school (free, no charge). www.SummitClimb.com info@SummitClimb.com 360-570-0715 Skype: summitclimb
B&B Vacation
in the French Pyrenees
Trekking, hiking, climbing and skiing based at the Bel Arrayo B&B run by mountain enthusiast Laurent Ortega. Location : Cauterets, a few minutes walk from the Parc National des Pyrénées. Access : Lourdes railway station or airport. Rates : doubles between 70-90 €uros with breakfast. Contact Laurent at : < lo.ortega@orange.fr > . Site web : www.chambres-hotes-cauterets.com tel 011 33 Ø5 62 91 74 24 (from Canada).
NOTICES Upcoming Meetings Board of Directors meeting: ●● May 11, 2013 in Canmore Section Council meeting: ●● May 11, 2013 in Canmore Annual General Meeting: ●● May 11, 2013 in Canmore
Classified Ad Rates: $30 plus $1 per word + taxes E-mail your ad to: ads@alpineclubofcanada.ca facebook.com/alpineclubofcanada twitter.com/alpineclubcan
Open air by
I
Rick Gardiner
n his 1958 book, Building in the Mountains: Architecture and History, Mario Cereghini wrote, “We are all agreed that hiking, mountaineering and skiing are schools of hardihood but we do not see what good it is to anybody to sleep badly and eat worse, or to have to spend hours and days of bad weather deprived of the most elementary conveniences.” In Canada, we can thank Herb and Pat Kariel for pointing out in their book, Alpine Huts in the Rockies, Selkirks and Purcells, the all-too-obvious, but sometimes taken for granted, need for huts in our mountains. But what we mustn’t forget is that the foundation of these huts is built upon the Alpine Club of Canada’s partnerships with Parks Canada and BC Parks. Our partnerships extend back to the beginnings of mountain exploration in Canada, which is evident in the longevity of our collaboration with Parks Canada. In his book, J. B. Harkin: Father of Canada’s National Parks, E.J. (Ted) Hart wrote, “James Harkin was thirty-six years old in 1911 when he became commissioner of the new Dominion Parks Branch (Parks Canada). His first visit to Canada’s western parks and reserves occurred in 1912, and included a sojourn with the Alpine Club of Canada’s Vermilion Pass Camp, an experience that stimulated in him a deeper appreciation of the positive effects of wilderness.” According to the Kariels, “In 1907 the ACC had applied to the Dominion Government for a lease on two acres of land on the south shore of Lake O’Hara, east of Opabin Creek, as a site for a future hut. This was granted in 1912, and the site was used as both a main and auxiliary site for several annual camps. In 1931 the ACC surrendered the original lease on the lakeshore in exchange for a lease of one acre around the buildings on the meadow. A contemporary account by ACC member Edna Greer tells about the acquisition of the two cabins there (Elizabeth Parker and Wiwaxy Cabins). An important link in the chain of cabins available to club members was forged when the Canadian Pacific Railway generously donated to the Alpine Club of Canada the comfortable cabin originally
the main building of the bungalow camp in the meadows at Lake O’Hara.” So, from the very beginning, the ACC has been very fortunate to be allowed to play a significant role in the history of North America’s largest hut system. We’ve been creating and operating huts from the very beginnings of our asso‑ ciation. We’ve also been influential in helping those in the parks’ agencies to realize their potential in regards to the creation of this hut system. Partnerships are not new territory. They’ve always been a means to an end of achieving something perhaps out of the realm of one organisation’s abilities when standing alone, that become ever-sopossible when two, or more, organisations share a common objective. Could Parks Canada and BC Parks have built, and operated, North America’s largest hut system alone? Perhaps. Could the ACC have built and developed this extensive array of huts throughout western Canada by itself ? Not likely. In some respects, the ACC can be seen as the go-between glue that helps bring together two parks agen‑ cies’ assets, along with our own unique assets, to create the synergies that allow a more extensive hut system than any of the three organisations alone may have been able to muster up. Because the mandates of all three organisations so closely align, and because those three organisations have a rich history of intertwined cooperation, we all enjoy our mountain huts. Take away the shared mandates, and take away the cooperative spirit of all the stakeholders and you weaken the very foundations of the huts we all enjoy. For the sake of all who venture into the “open air”, it’s up to us to ensure that never happens. Rick Gardiner is the ACC’s unabashed hut-loving Facilities Director.
PSST! Do you wanna be a best-selling writer? Ok, how about just a writer? Contact the Gazette editor at gazette@alpineclubofcanada.ca to have your article, story or event published in the Gazette. Club alpin du Canada
Gazette
p rintemps
2013 31